VIOLATION OF CONSTITUTION
MANILA, FEBRUARY 14, 2012 (ABS-CBN) Supreme Court Chief Justice
Renato Corona yesterday accused President Aquino of having committed impeachable
offenses, as he charged, in a press statement, that the impeachable violation of
the Constitution came when he came out swinging by openly urging the
senator-judges to disobey the fundamental law, or the Charter, whihc the
president has personally sworn to uphold.
In the same statement, the Chief Justice denied having committed any
wrongdoing saying that "throughout (his) public career," and that he has never
been involved in any anomaly or scandal. "Whatever assets my wife and I have
acquired are products of 45 years of toil and honest work.
My wife and I have been privileged to come from families of comfortable
means. We grew up some of the best exclusive schools in the country. I went on
to earn several postgraduate degrees, including a Master's degree in Harvard Law
School. Our parents provided well for our future. Family resources continue to
be available to us anytime."
Corona explained that he had a very successful career in the private sector
where he worked as a top executive before joining government, stressed that this
is public record.
For the past 40 years, my wife and I lived in a house, which was
inherited property, and for that reason never had to pay rent or amortization on
our residence. This translated to significant savings over forty years," the
statement said.
"We have lived simple and frugal lives since we got married more than 40
years ago, to the point of thriftiness. This contributed to how we have been
able to accumulate these assets. Other than our house, which we have lived in
for almost 40 years, we have never had any other house.
"I do not spend on vices like smoking, drinking or gambling, and have been
completely devoted to my family. My family has always been my priority.
"It pains me to see my family suffer the reckless abandon of a few who want
to paint a different Renato C. Corona. I will not allow a career carefully
nurtured and a family lovingly cared for in my lifetime to be tarnished by
people in the business of lies and falsehoods.
"But I am determined, with my Defense Team, to explain everything
satisfactorily when our turn comes to present our evidence. If you look closely
at the documents already marked, the explanations are all there.
"In the meantime, I would like to request the public not to make any hasty
conclusions. This 'expose' that the prosecution is trying to herald as another
"bombshell" will, in due time, be exposed as another dud like the 45 properties
they claimed I owned.
He had directed parts of the statement to the prosecution team, saying:to the
Prosecution Team, I do know my law. I have not broken any law. I have no
liability to the people and to the government.
"What my wife and I have is the fruit of hard and honest work for which all
taxes have been fully paid. Since the Prosecution alleged wrongdoing, the
obligation to prove it is theirs and theirs alone. Do not extract it from me
through means that are foul, coercive and illegal because this can only mean one
thing: YOU DID NOT HAVE ANY IOTA OF EVIDENCE AGAINST ME WHEN YOU FILED THE
IMPEACHMENT COMPLAINT.
"As to the effort of the Prosecution to enlist the assistance of certain
patently partisan and inquisitorial senator-judges to help obtain the evidence
you are digging up only now, not to mention the ruthless, unchristian and
unrelenting public persecution through trial by publicity against my family and
I, I hope the public will see through your schemes. My entire family is now,
among others, being harassed by the BIR. I hope this persecution will never
happen to any other official, officer, captain of industry or Juan dela Cruz. I
would not wish it on my worst enemy, should I have one.
"Finally, the President has clearly committed an impeachable offense
when he came out swinging by openly urging the senator-judges to disobey the
Constitution he has personally sworn to uphold.
He said the impeachment trial is a farce with its shamless intention is to
stop the parceling of the Hacienda Luisita.
The prosecution panel yesterday branded the allegations raised by the defense
lawyers of impeached chief justice against the senator-judges as an act of
desperation in a bid to lay the basis to discredit the entire impeachment
proceedings.
In a press conference yesterday before the resumption of the impeachment
trial, the spokesmen of the prosecution panel accused Corona's defense lawyers
of diverting public attention from the P32-million secret bank accounts of the
chief justice that was uncovered during the testimonies of two bank officials
from the Bank of the Philippine Islands and the PS Bank by alleging that the
Senator-Judges have been bribed for P100-million each in exchange for defying
the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the Supreme Court on the disclosure of
dollar bank deposits.
"They are laying the basis for a mistrial. They are conditioning the mind of
the public," Angara said in view of the caucus by the senator-judges on whether
it should follow the TRO on the disclosure of dollar bank deposits which the
prosecutors believe could further inflate Corona's unreported cash and
investments.
Angara said that instead of disproving the overwhelming pieces of evidence
that have been presented in the impeachment court, Corona and his lawyers have
done nothing from Day One but to undermine the impeachment proceeding.
"This is obviously a desperate attempt on the part of the defense
lawyers to discredit the impeachment proceedings and a direct attack on the
independence and impartiality of the senator-judges," said another prosecution
spokesman, Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo.
Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada said Corona's lawyers have probably realized that
"in the face of overwhelming evidence, the position of their client has become
indefensible."
According to Quimbo, the defense counsels may be privy to some information
which led them to conclude that Corona is a lost cause and the only way to save
their case is to turn the tables against the chief magistrate's archenemy,
President Aquino.
"There are facts that no brilliant legal brief can refute such as the
nondisclosure of some P32 million in bank deposits in Mr. Corona's SALn. There
is no legal antidote to that lying," Quimbo said.
Quimbo pointed out that the actions of the defense panel would show that they
are practically abandoning the process in the Senate. Gerry
Baldo
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
